How to build a Masonic Lodge website that people will actually use
The hardest part of a new Lodge website is rarely WordPress. It is deciding what the website is supposed to achieve and getting enough agreement to move forward.
This guide is for Lodge members who know the current website needs replacing — or that the Lodge needs its first proper site — but want a sensible plan before taking it to the committee.
1. Decide what the website is for
“We should have a website” is not an objective. Choose the main jobs.
For many Lodges the priorities are attracting new members, presenting accurate public information, supporting existing members and showing the Lodge’s charitable and social life. A Masonic Hall may also need to generate commercial venue bookings; if so, see our Masonic venue website service.
2. Put prospective members near the top of the list
If recruitment matters, look at the website as someone who is not a Freemason. Can he tell where you meet? Does the Lodge sound active? Can he understand the next step without already knowing a member?
Do not make him decode Masonic terminology before he can contact you. Our guide to attracting new members with a Lodge website covers the full enquiry journey.
3. Build around Lodge-specific content
There is already plenty of generic information about Freemasonry online. Your website becomes useful when it explains your Lodge: its character, history, location, social activity, charity and what membership there is actually like.
Look at our Masonic Lodge website examples to see how different Lodges can retain their own identity.
4. Gather facts rather than asking somebody to write ten pages
Committees often lose momentum because nobody volunteers to write the website. A better process is to collect the facts in a structured form and turn them into copy afterwards.
That is how we now run our own builds: the Lodge supplies accurate information; we create the finished pages.
5. Use good photographs
Real Lodge and venue photographs usually do more for credibility than generic Masonic stock images. Photograph the building, Lodge room, suitable events, charitable activity and people where permission has been obtained.
6. Make mobile the default, not an afterthought
Many first visits will happen on a phone. Keep paragraphs readable, navigation simple, buttons obvious and contact routes easy to use. A beautiful desktop homepage that becomes a wall of text on mobile is not a good website.
7. Use WordPress sensibly
WordPress gives the Lodge an established content-management system and avoids dependence on a tiny proprietary platform. It can be simple for routine page, news and event changes when the theme and plugins are chosen carefully. Read more about our approach to WordPress Lodge websites.
8. Give the Lodge proper email continuity
Use role-based addresses at the Lodge domain where practical. The Secretary may change; secretary@yourlodge.org.uk does not have to. See our professional Lodge email options.
9. Plan who will maintain it
Choose this before launch. Either a named Lodge member takes responsibility, responsibilities are shared, or an outside provider manages the agreed work. “Somebody will probably do it” is how websites become stale. If required, we offer Masonic website management.
10. Treat SEO as structure, not magic
Use clear page subjects, local information, good titles and descriptions, internal links and useful content. Avoid publishing several near-identical pages targeting the same phrase. Our Masonic Lodge SEO service is available where a Lodge needs ongoing help.
11. Keep private and public information separate
A public Lodge website should not become an accidental repository for information intended only for members. If private functionality is required, build a proper Masonic members area with appropriate access.
12. Make the committee decision easier
When seeking approval, present the problem, objective, cost and maintenance plan. Show examples. Explain how membership enquiries will work. If the Lodge is worried about ongoing work, make the management options clear.
Need help turning the plan into the site?
Our Masonic Lodge website design service can handle the structure, copy and build. You supply facts and approvals rather than trying to become a web agency yourselves.
